In recent years, content playback apparatuses (IPTVs: IP television sets) have appeared that can connect to an IP (Internet Protocol) network and playback content distributed from a content distribution apparatus (server). In the past, as a system that determines the content and the (bit rate) quality between such clients and servers, there have been the SIP (Session Initiation Protocol; refer to Non-Patent Document 1) and the SDP (Session Description Protocol; refer to Non-Patent Document 2 and Non-Patent Document 3). This is an arbitration scheme in which either one of a client and a server proposes an option for content quality, and the other selects any one and gives a response, using a determined format.
Patent Document 1 provides a method for applying a limit to the response with respect to a request from a client, in response to the load at the server side. This calculates the load of requests from each client for each individual load type (for example, CPU load X, number of simultaneous connections Y) with respect to the server load, and limits the handling of requests so that the server load is not exceeded for each type of load, with service not being provided for requests that exceed the limit.